Group of harness racing stakes races
Goldsmith Maid , perennial fan favorite trotter
The Grand Circuit , also known as the "Big Wheel",[ 1] harness racing stakes races run at various race tracks around the United States.[ 2] [ 3] [ 4]
The series was started in 1871 by Colonel Billy Edwards , of Cleveland, Ohio , L.J. Powers of Springfield, Massachusetts , E.A. Buck of Buffalo, New York , and later C.W. Hutchinson of Utica , New York.[ 4] [ 1] [ 5]
In 1914 the Grand Circuit consisted of six tracks, located in: Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus , Ohio; The Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky ; Detroit, Michigan ; Grand Rapids , Michigan; and Kalamazoo , Michigan. Prior to this there were more, including Narragansett Park in Providence, Rhode Island ; Charter Oak Park in Hartford, Connecticut ; Readville Race Track in Boston, Massachusetts; Rockingham Park in Salem, New Hampshire ; Fleetwood Park Racetrack in New York, New York; and Poughkeepsie , New York, but anti-gambling laws during the early part of the 20th century caused them to drop out.[ 6]
As of 2023, the circuit was run at 22 tracks.[ 7]
Tracks as of 2023
As listed by the United States Trotting Association , in 2023 the Grand Circuit Races were held at the following 22 venues:[ 7]
Cleveland Driving Park (1871–1904)[ 23] [ 19]
Buffalo Driving Park (1871–1878, 1880–1884, 1886–1894, 1898–1902)[ 23]
Hampden Park (1871–1877, 1880–1881, 1883–1893)[ 23] Utica Driving Park (1871–1879, 1881–1884, 1886–1888)[ 23]
Rochester Driving Park (1875–1895)[ 23] Poughkeepsie Driving Park (1875–1877, 1882, 1889–1890, 1894, 1906–1909, 1916, 1918–1922)[ 23] [ 25] [ 26] [ 30]
Homewood Park (1881–1882, 1884, 1890–1893)[ 23]
Narragansett Park (1883–1885, 1899–1905, 1907)[ 23] [ 31] Charter Oak Park (1876–1892, 1894, 1897–1925, 1929–1932)[ 23] [ 32] [ 33] Island Park (1884–1889)[ 23]
Detroit Driving Club (1886)[ 23]
Fleetwood Park Racetrack (1888–1890, 1893–1897)[ 23] Point Breeze Park (1890–1894)[ 23]
Hamtramck Park (1893)[ 23]
Union Park (1894–1896)[ 23]
Grosse Pointe Track (1894–1917)[ 34] [ 35]
Columbus Driving Park (1896–1925)[ 23] [ 36] Indianapolis (1896)[ 23]
Fort Wayne Driving Park (1896–1898)[ 23]
Glens Falls Mile Track (1897–1901)[ 23]
Readville Race Track (1897–1908, 1910–1912, 1918–1925)[ 23] [ 37] [ 26] [ 27] [ 35] Rigby Park (1898)[ 23] Vigo County Fairgrounds (1900–1902)[ 23] [ 24]
New York State Fairgrounds Racetrack (1901–1930, 1933–1941)[ 23] [ 38] [ 33] Chester Park (1901–1906)[ 23]
Brighton Beach Race Course (1902–1904)[ 23] [ 39] Kenilworth Park Race Track (1903–1908)
North Memphis Driving Park (1904–1905)[ 18] [ 25]
Elkwood Park (1908–1909)[ 31] [ 26]
Kalamazoo Recreation Park/Exposition Park (1908–1931)[ 31]
Fort Erie Race Track (1909–1914, 1932–1934)[ 37] [ 28] [ 40] Forest City Fairgrounds (1909–1939, 1945)[ 37] [ 41]
Indiana State Fairgrounds (1911)[ 42] Comstock Park (1911–1915, 1927, 1929–1930)[ 9] [ 30] [ 10] [ 32] Pittsburgh Driving Club (1912–1914, 1916)[ 43] [ 28]
Rockingham Park (1912–1913, 1932–1934)[ 43] [ 28] [ 40] Michigan State Fairgrounds Speedway (1912–1914, 1927, 1929)[ 43] [ 28] [ 30] Windsor Fair Grounds (1913)[ 27] [ 28] [ 10] [ 32]
Montreal Exposition Grounds (1915)[ 44]
Piedmont Driving Club (1916–1922, 1925–1928)[ 45] [ 46] Belmont Driving Park (1917–1922)[ 30]
Maumee Downs (1918–1930, 1932–1941, 1947–1951)[ 35] [ 38] [ 40] [ 47] Devonshire Raceway (1923–1924)[ 48]
Aurora Downs (1925, 1929–1930, 1947–1950)[ 46] [ 36] [ 32] [ 47] Ideal Park (1926)[ 13]
Monroe Driving Park (1926)[ 13]
Orange County Fair Speedway (1926)[ 13] Coney Island Race Track (1929)[ 32] Thorncliffe Park Raceway (1931)[ 49] London Fairgrounds (1931)[ 49]
Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack (1931–1941, 1946–2015)[ 49] [ 14] [ 11] [ 50] Good Time Park (1935–1956)[ 51] Ohio State Fairgrounds (1936–1937)[ 51] Milwaukee Fairgrounds (1936, 1941–1948)[ 51] [ 52] Kite Track (1936–1939, 1942–1946, 1949)[ 20] [ 47] [ 52] Reading Fairgrounds (1937–1943, 1946–1955)[ 11] Agawam Park (1937–1938)[ 53] Mineola Race Track (1940)[ 8]
Narragansett Park (1940)[ 8] Kentucky State Fairgrounds (1940–1941)[ 8] Roosevelt Raceway (1941–1987)[ 14] Buffalo Raceway (1941, 1966–????)[ 14]
New Jersey State Fairgrounds (1944–1945)[ 54] DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Racetrack (1944–2009)[ 54] [ 55] Santa Anita Park (1946, 1948, 1950, 1952)[ 11] Maywood Park (1947–1950)[ 47] Hollywood Park (1947, 1949, 1951, 1953–????)[ 47] [ 52] Fairmount Park Racetrack (1949–1950)[ 52] Missouri State Fair Speedway (1949–????)[ 52] Wolverine Raceway (1951–????)[ 29]
Hazel Park Raceway (1954–????)[ 22] Bay State Raceway (1956–????)[ 56] Sportsman's Park (1956–1997)[ 57] Arden Downs (1957–1962)[ 58]
Suffolk Downs (1960)[ 59] Rosecroft Raceway (1961–????)[ 60] Baltimore Raceway (1961–????)[ 60]
Monticello Raceway (1961–????)[ 60] Grandview Raceway (1961–????)[ 60]
Liberty Bell Park (1963–1983)[ 16] [ 61] Phoenix Trotting Park (1966)[ 16] Pompano Park (1966–2021)[ 16] Atlantic City Race Course Brandywine Raceway (1971–1985)[ 61]
Garden State Park Racetrack [ 62] Los Alamitos Race Course Freestate Raceway Batavia Downs Hippodrome de Trois-Rivières
Miami Valley Gaming
See also
References
^ a b Hinkle, Charlie (May 23, 1954). "Racing's Grand Circuit Opens Colorful Season" . Dayton Daily News . Retrieved November 1, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. ^ Siegel, Paul D. (2002). How to Own Winning Standardbred Racehorses ISBN 0-929346-72-6 . Retrieved July 1, 2020 . ^ Hoffman, Dean (2012). Harness Racing in New York State ISBN 978-1-61423-629-0 . Retrieved July 2, 2020 . ^ a b "Grand Circuit" . Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved July 1, 2020 .^ Fasig, William Benjamin; Gocher, William Henry (1903). Fasig's Tales of the Turf . Retrieved July 2, 2020 . ^ Kline, Tedd H. (November 28, 1914). "The Handwriting on the Wall" . The Breeder's Journal . 3 (11): 6– 9. Retrieved July 1, 2020 . ^ a b "All Age 2023 Grand Circuit Races" (PDF) . United States Trotting Association . November 25, 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 14, 2024. Retrieved January 14, 2024 .^ a b c d Trott, Frank (January 28, 1940). "American and National Trots Set for Gansett". The Boston Globe . ^ a b c "Goshen in Grand Circuit Racing". The New York Times . January 11, 1911. ^ a b c "Grand Circuit Sets Dates for Season". The New York Times . January 5, 1927. ^ a b c d e "Hambletonian Set Aug. 7". The New York Times . December 13, 1945. ^ Baumgartner, Paul (June 18, 1989). "Financial success attracts horsemen". The Plain Dealer . ^ a b c d "Dates Announced for Grand Circuit Meet". The New York Times . January 6, 1926. ^ a b c d Trott, Frank (February 2, 1941). "Hambletonian Stake Date Set by Grand Circuit for August 6". The Boston Globe . ^ "Meadowlands Joins Circuit". The New York Times . February 24, 1977. ^ a b c d "Blake Named Head of Grand Circuit". The New York Times . December 12, 1965. ^ "Speed starts to show as Mohawk's horses await Grand Circuit". The Globe and Mail . June 19, 1978. ^ a b "Great Campaign Planned by The Grand Circuit". The Boston Globe . January 25, 1904. ^ a b "Grand Circuit". The Boston Globe . January 13, 1905. ^ a b "10 Grand Circuit Tracks". The New York Times . April 11, 1942. ^ "Tioga Downs to host stakes series". Press & Sun-Bulletin . July 22, 2006. ^ a b "2 Courses Added to Grand Circuit". The New York Times . December 13, 1953. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Gocher, William Henry (1903). Fasig's Tales of the Turf . Retrieved October 4, 2022 . ^ a b "An Ideal Chain". The Boston Globe . January 28, 1903. ^ a b c "Will Open July 23". The Boston Globe . January 10, 1906. ^ a b c d "New York in Grand Circuit". The Boston Globe . January 12, 1910. ^ a b c "Readville is Out of Grand Circuit". The Boston Globe . January 15, 1913. ^ a b c d e f "Grand Circuit Dates". The New York Times . January 14, 1914. ^ a b "Yonkers is Invited Into Grand Circuit". The New York Times . December 13, 1950. ^ a b c d Trott, Frank (January 29, 1917). "Fourteen Weeks of Great Racing Assured". The Boston Globe . ^ a b c "Grand Circuit Meet for Elkwood Park". The New York Times . May 3, 1908. ^ a b c d e Trott, Frank (January 28, 1929). "Fifteen Weeks of Mile Track Racing". The Boston Globe . ^ a b "Dates for 1933 Set for Grand Circuit". The New York Times . November 22, 1932. ^ "On The Grand Circuit". The Boston Globe . July 17, 1894. ^ a b c "Readville Meeting Will Open Aug 26". The Boston Globe . January 9, 1918. ^ a b "Columbus is Out of Grand Circuit". The New York Times . December 19, 1925. ^ a b c "Grand Circuit Dates". The New York Times . January 13, 1909. ^ a b "Famous Fort Miami Track at Toledo Out of Grand Circuit-Syracuse Abandons Harness Racing For Runners". The Boston Globe . January 6, 1931. ^ "Brighton Beach Out Of The Grand Circuit". The New York Times . December 16, 1904. ^ a b c Trott, Frank (January 18, 1932). "East Again Strong in Grand Circuit". The Boston Globe . ^ "Phellis Trotting Head". The New York Times . December 21, 1944. ^ "Large Fields for Grand Circuit Races" . The Gazette Times . July 10, 1911. Retrieved October 21, 2024 .^ a b c Trott, Frank (January 22, 1912). "Rockingham Gets Date". The Boston Globe . ^ "Changes in Grand Circuit". The New York Times . January 13, 1915. ^ "Grand Circuit 14 Weeks' Show". The Boston Globe . January 12, 1916. ^ a b Trott, Frank (January 12, 1925). "Readville Has Its Usual Dates". The Boston Globe . ^ a b c d e "Blake New Chief of Grand Circuit". The New York Times . December 12, 1946. ^ "Devereaux Again to Head Stewards". The New York Times . January 10, 1923. ^ a b c "13 Dates Are Set in Grand Circuit". The New York Times . January 6, 1931. ^ Martinez, Marcia (April 14, 2016). "Harness horse owners skeptical about Department of Ag's pledge on state fair purses" . The State Journal-Register . Retrieved October 18, 2022 . ^ a b c "Grand Circuit Gives West Three Meets Late in Fall". The Boston Globe . January 28, 1936. ^ a b c d e "Old Orchard Back on Grand Circuit Program in '49" . The Boston Globe . Columbus, Ohio. AP. December 15, 1948. p. 27. Retrieved November 1, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.^ "13 Weeks of Racing for Grand Circuit". The New York Times . May 22, 1937. ^ a b "Grand Circuit Schedule to Open at Old Orchard". The Boston Globe . January 23, 1944. ^ Milbert, Neil (March 26, 2010). "World Trotting Derby a victim of budget cuts". The Chicago Tribune . ^ "Grand Circuit Racing at Foxboro This Year". The Boston Globe . June 10, 1956. ^ "Chicago Downs Meet Sets Pace". Daily Defender . September 5, 1956. ^ "Arden Downs Pace to Thorpe Hanover". The New York Times . October 13, 1957. ^ "Suffolk Downs Harness Racing Opens Monday". The Boston Globe . October 23, 1960. ^ a b c d Records & Briefs New York State Appellate Division 49– 50. Retrieved October 18, 2022 .^ a b Kiser, Jack (March 24, 1984). "Brandywine Opens Meet, Might Be Its Last Season". Philadelphia Daily News . ^ Jerardi, Dick (August 21, 1985). "Harness Racing Goes on Trial at Garden State". Philadelphia Daily News .
